The random chat thread for throwing out things that don't matter

 I just received a new batch of coffee from the same EBay roasters. This time around I wanted to try the over hyped Kona Hawaiian beans that are grown on the big island. They are a little cheaper than the Jamaican blue coffee.  They say they are not that great for the money because they have to pay US wages and therefore they have to hype it to sell it.  I knew what I was buying but I wanted to give it a try out of curiosity and here is my finding. 

 Not bad. Not as rich as the JBM however it makes a great cup.  $20 a pound shipped is not a bad price either and I like it enough to buy it again.  Its like when people tell you that Paris is over rated and when you finally get there its clearly not.  

I have bought from many different fancy  roasters over the years and most of them are average. The Italians roast the best in my opinion.  About four years ago I bought a roaster with a friend and was roasting my own greens which was better because small batches usually brings out the best.  These EBay roasters know exactly what they are doing and they are trying to win you over with the price and quality.  

 I brought back some of the Kona beans from my trip to the big island a few years ago ... Had a sample there and bought the last bag available in the market that day. Was great while it lasted.... but costs twice as much to get it here now. Haven't had it since.

Posted by: @dev

 Its like when people tell you that Paris is over rated and when you finally get there its clearly not.  

Paris is great, but it can get more expensive than it is worth after a couple visits. The rest of France I found to be spot. I spend my European time in Spain and Portugal, some in Italy. We like the mountains more than the sea coats, the county better than the cities. usually spend a couple days in the cities for museums, restaurants, and shopping, the rest in the mountains and smaller cities and towns.

The Italians roast the best in my opinion.  

Agree totally. You can usually find Italian ground and roasted coffee in most Western European countries. We usually get a half kilo and use it and take home when we go there. It has been a year and a half. 

I was on a tight budget but I got it to work when I went.  I had the pleasure of eating at an F1 restaurant with a Renault V12 next to me. The people there were very nice to me unlike what some say and that is because I followed what our bus driver told us which was to dress nicely at night without our typical American look with a fanny pack and T-shirt.  Actually I was on a bus with Dutch tourists and it applied to everyone but I image the American tourist is probably the worst offender.  

My wife speaks decent French and evenings we always dress nice, sport jacket and khaki's, dress not slacks, anywhere in Europe. dress shirt and pressed jeans or khakis. never jeans or t-shirt. Most locals are pleased that you at least have some of their language. Americans rarely do. We both can get by in Spanish, and both have sone Portuguese. Very little Italian.

Most American tourists belong along the beach at best.It is always best to NOT dress down...except in the US.

Where I live in Ohio is a few miles from Lake Erie and a local summer tourist trap. We can avoid it be not going east or nort in the summer. It is a fishing and boating area. Probably why I never liked either.

Posted by: @grumpy

The rest of France I found to be spot. I spend my European time in Spain and Portugal, some in Italy.

Agreed Marseille is a lovely place to hang out as is Strasberg (Love newtons clock I try to see it every time I am in france) A hidden gem under the portugal flag are the Azores. They are the Hawaii of the Atlantic right between the NA and Europe . weather is nice stable food and culture outstanding at the fight is only 3 hours from an east coast airport so you can muddle through coach 🙂

Sperm whales come right up to shore as there is not much of a shelf off the beach from ankle deep to 2000 ft in less than 50 yards in places. Love travel and miss it terribly 

Another day and another cup of the Kona. Generally freshly roasted beans need a few days to settle out before they are at their optimum so I think it will get better. 

So far Im liking this coffee even though is it nowhere comparable to the JBM intense flavor. I like that its different but still has the right amounts of bitters. Sometimes you get coffee burn in and have to mix it up a bit.  Im extreemly picky and often turn down a lot of coffees but the Kona is on my shortlist of coffees I will buy again.  One of the most important factors for coffee flavor is the grinder, not necessarily the machine. 

All Mazda 3s come with hardware for GPS, but to get navigation, you have to buy the $450 nav SD card. So I bought one... on eBay... for $45. Surely it's real, right? 

But it works! And besides having surprisingly modern and updated maps (unlike Lexus), it also added navigation directions to the HUD. And best of all, even when I'm not using navigation, I now get speed limit signs in my cluster and HUD! So useful!

Nice @haloruler64 !

I'm installing an Alpine iLX-W650 today in the c5z.  The CD player doesn't work on the factory radio and I'm missing being able to listen to something other than the mediocre radio stations.  I have been enjoying the car's own soundtrack of supercharger whine and exhaust noise, but those are short lived before entering into the realm of 'lets go to jail' speeds.

 I did something I didn't think I would have the stomach for which is lens repair.  I was able to open up a famous Nikon lens that is probably 45 years old using some lens tools from Amazon and a youtube video detailing the process. I had to use acetone to melt the lock tight and the lens groups were able to unscrew for cleaning with methanol.  

Over time there is off gassing from deterioration and heat which also vaporizes the grease that gets on to the lens elements creating haze or worst case fungus which lowers contrast on pictures. If you are not carful you can ruin a good lens but on the whole it was straight forward. The lens is mostly clear now but there is going to be some internal dust that cant be avoided even with brand new lenses assembled in a clean room. 

 A copy of this lens took this picture which is considered to be the most famous picture in the world.    

Anybody here watch the Le Mons race?  I watched some of it.   The time spent watching the race, I kept trying to figure out what brand vehicles were present.  I saw Porsche and Ferrari but then I was lost.   There was often a single seat cockpit vehicle that had a rigid backbone that went all the way to the back of the car.  I thought a Mclarran (sp?) or something like that.  Gazoo racing's car looked to be that same style of car.  It was all new to me.

We be jam’en raspberries are officially in holy shit overload

Posted by: @uncle-mush

Anybody here watch the Le Mons race?  I watched some of it.   The time spent watching the race, I kept trying to figure out what brand vehicles were present.  I saw Porsche and Ferrari but then I was lost.   There was often a single seat cockpit vehicle that had a rigid backbone that went all the way to the back of the car.  I thought a Mclarran (sp?) or something like that.  Gazoo racing's car looked to be that same style of car.  It was all new to me.

The cars that look more street going are the GT class cars.  There's two classes of them, the pro class and the amateur class.  The single cockpit cars are the LMP(LeMans Prototype) cars.  The Gazoo car is an LMP2 car, then there's the LMP1 class as well.  The technology in the LMP cars is crazy but very interesting.

Posted by: @nocoolname

Posted by: @uncle-mush

Anybody here watch the Le Mons race?  I watched some of it.   The time spent watching the race, I kept trying to figure out what brand vehicles were present.  I saw Porsche and Ferrari but then I was lost.   There was often a single seat cockpit vehicle that had a rigid backbone that went all the way to the back of the car.  I thought a Mclarran (sp?) or something like that.  Gazoo racing's car looked to be that same style of car.  It was all new to me.

The cars that look more street going are the GT class cars.  There's two classes of them, the pro class and the amateur class.  The single cockpit cars are the LMP(LeMans Prototype) cars.  The Gazoo car is an LMP2 car, then there's the LMP1 class as well.  The technology in the LMP cars is crazy but very interesting.

Thanks for the info.  Much appreciated!

Finally finished up the Alpine install in the vette.  Now comes the fun of learning the features, getting it to sound decent with the factory Bose setup and such.  I still need to send out the climate control as it has the common problem of the display going spastic at times.

https://imgur.com/kKE4u6X